I've come across a problem in the wedding industry and started helping a friend address it, hoping to gain insights for a potential startup.
While exploring the issue and potential improvements, I unexpectedly received payment from a third party from vendors. This is my first non-investor or competition income for a startup.
Should I continue this as part of my research, treating it as an MVP, or should I first identify the problem, find a tech-based solution, and then build a website for the MVP?
Given that I'm not a tech person, where should I start?
Consider Paul Graham's advice: http://paulgraham.com/ds.html. You might be able to at least partly solve the problem without going all out on a technical MVP. Technology is table stakes. Value is in solving problems that are critical enough for people to want to pay you.